Access to motor vehicles has been limited by using various control systems over the years. Originally, internal combustion vehicles were accessed merely by turning on a manual switch and manually cranking (i.e. turning over) the vehicle's engine. As time passed, electric starters and key lock switches connected to the starters were added to further limit access and control unauthorized use.
The traditional automotive access control paradigm is familiar to most people. In this paradigm, automobiles are limited to use by a single user or a small group of users, all of whom have identical keys or share a single key to operate the vehicle. In this paradigm, each automobile is associated with a unique key that can only be used to operate one automobile. If an operator has three cars, he needs three different keys, one key for each auto.
The same is not true for most work vehicles, however. In the construction and agricultural industry, there historically has been more concern about easy and quick access and less concern about theft. There is less risk of theft in the construction and agricultural industries, compared with autos, but the numbers are increasing.
For work vehicles, the biggest vehicle access problem has not been theft or misuse by trained operators, but misuse by untrained joy riders. A simple solution to deter joy riders would be to use a key unique to each vehicle. But having individual key locks on the different vehicles on a job site would be impractical since many workers typically use a variety of vehicles during the day. Furthermore, most work vehicles are part of large fleets of work vehicles that are commonly owned by construction companies and are kept at various work sites for extended periods of time, often being used for two or three shifts a day. There are new operators for the work vehicles with every shift change. Also the vehicles may be replaced when one vehicle is transferred to another work site or back to the fleet site for maintenance.
Thus each manufacturer developed a standard ignition lock. In this system, which prevails today, most manufacturers use a preferred ignition lock for every vehicle they make. From the fleet operator's perspective, a common lock significantly simplifies vehicle access control. If a worksite has backhoes, front loaders, skid steer loaders and other vehicles all made by a single manufacturer, all the operators only need a single key to operate all the vehicles. This single key will be the same for all the vehicles made by that manufacturer, no matter when or where the vehicle was added to the fleet.
This is a minimally effective access control system. The industry is comfortable with it since it deters most untrained and unauthorized drivers from accessing the vehicle, yet permits a skilled and authorized operator to easily access any vehicle with his personal key.
This system is the dominant access control paradigm for the construction industry and affects daily operations in the construction industry. Such operations relate to how vehicles are stored, how operators are assigned to operate individual vehicles, and how operators move from one vehicle to another during the workday. Single key operation of different vehicles of one manufacturer is now embedded in the construction industry. It would be shortsighted if not impossible to replace it now with the automotive single-key-per-vehicle paradigm. Nor would a single-key-per-vehicle system meet the needs of the construction industry.
The construction industry continues to change and a need for better vehicle access control has arisen. First, many companies now rent or lease their work vehicles. The owner of the rented or leased vehicle is not at the work site to monitor their usage, make sure they are serviced properly, make sure they are not misused, and make sure they are not used outside the terms of the vehicle lease or rental contract. For the owners of these vehicles, it is important to have vehicle access control features.
The single-key-per-vehicle automotive access control paradigm is not viable due to the many keys that every operator must have, the chance for loss, and the need for a locksmith to replace the key or lock whenever a key is lost. Furthermore, there are more keys to lose. Thus, if one key is lost, the vehicle's lock must be re-keyed and replacement keys provided for every key holder.
Thus, a system for controlling access to a fleet of vehicles, particularly construction vehicles, that has the flexibility of the single-key-per-manufacturer system and much of the security of the single-key-per-vehicle system is needed. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide such capability.